Employee Engagement
in the Mile High City
Juri Freeman
Recycling Program Manager
City and County of Denver
THANKS!
• Brad Paterson and Tanya Chaisitti (Denver
Interns)
• Denver Department of Environmental
Health (Funding)
• Facility Staff and Custodial Staff in Denver!
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
• 173,000 residential customers
• City staff and trucks
• Denver Recycles, Denver
Composts, Special Events,
Special Collections, Outreach
and Education
• Denver Public Schools - ~165
school sites, 80K students
• Denver Facilities
DENVER EMPLOYEES
STEPS
ID barriers / baseline
Develop interventions
Deploy program
Measure impacts
Grow program
EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES
• Most employees fall into one of two
categories: Non-Recycler, Un-Sure Recycler,
Moderate Recycler, Enthusiastic Recycler
• Education needed on what, why, and how
• Physical barriers
• Recycling not always supported and not the
cultural norm
• Need to go beyond posters and stickers
• Look at social marketing tools (incentives,
competitions, feedback, etc.)
BASELINE
Employee
Facilities Only:
7 – 9%
All City
Facilities: 13%
LAUNCHING THE HIGH
DIVERSION TEST FACILITY
%
WHAT WE DID (Briefly)
• New waste stations
• Trash can buy-back program
(commitments, incentives, norms,
custodial time)
• Recycle squad (ugh!)
• Multi-media outreach (posters, displays,
emails, staff meetings, word of mouth)
• Lots and lots of work with custodial staff
and facility staff
• Zero waste events, meetings, follow-up
IMPACTS
RESULTS
•Waste Diversion pre: ~35%
•Waste Diversion post: ~68%
COSTS
•About $5K in capital
•Custodial duties were a wash, about 1 / 3 opted in to program
•No change in collection costs for Denver
•Very slight overall savings in tip fees/ recycling revenue for City (If
City wide, about $200K net annually in recycling savings possible)
RECOMMENDATIONS
•Clearly define ‘why’
•Do your planning (DDC Example)
•Custodial duties and maps – make sure they are on board
•Follow‐up after launch
•Bag liners – expensive but useful
•Containerization is very important
•Opt‐in with peer pressure
•Get top down support (if possible)
•Get to know your advocates and opponents
•Simple signs
WHATS NEXT?
CONTACT INFORMATION
Juri Freeman
[email protected]
(303) 446-3404